Barry Daly

[ronk]

Maybe he picked up some good things playing 7s but it's the time in 15s that has allowed us to see the improvement.

He looked more like one of several English speedy wingers e.g.Daly who swarm, work hard and use their acceleration to cause attackers to hesitate or panic.

[leinsterforever]

I wonder could we see Daly move to the right wing when Lowe comes in? He played 14 for Ireland U20s if I recall correctly, and his defensive reads are a fair bit better than Byrne's. Anyone have an idea which wing he played on more for UCD?

[COYBIB]

He really has some extremely good attributes that you see each week and think "Ah, but could he do it at a higher level?", and consistently the answer seems to be yes.

He may be in the form of his life, but he is playing full of confidence, he made some superb defensive reads, cut off escape channels out wide and forced Montpellier players into contact, and when he made contact himself he never seemed to put a foot wrong. He made another clean over the head catch in the air that put us on the front foot and I was extremely impressed by his finish for his try.

Let's see how he goes, but certainly he's in the first team on merit right now and for sure has been the surprise package of the season. He was probably next in line for the MOTM award after Henshaw. Conan held his hand up too.

[Oldschool]

He really has some extremely good attributes that you see each week and think "Ah, but could he do it at a higher level?", and consistently the answer seems to be yes.

He may be in the form of his life, but he is playing full of confidence, he made some superb defensive reads, cut off escape channels out wide and forced Montpellier players into contact, and when he made contact himself he never seemed to put a foot wrong. He made another clean over the head catch in the air that put us on the front foot and I was extremely impressed by his finish for his try.

Let's see how he goes, but certainly he's in the first team on merit right now and for sure has been the surprise package of the season. He was probably next in line for the MOTM award after Henshaw. Conan held his hand up too.

Great point about his defensive reads.
Not only that but he had the courage to trust his judgement and reacted very quickly.
If Adam Byrne is going to come in off his wing it has to be to do something rather just phaffing into no man's land.
No doubt Barry Daly will get it wrong occasionally but so far he's been getting it right.

[ChrisUppy]

I really f'ing loved his finish on the weekend.

You can see it best from the head on camera angle but the way he angled in to meet the collision of two huge lads head on was the only way to get over that line and it wasn't necessarily strength that got him over, but determination - you could see it on his face. You could be faster and stronger lad than him but if you didn't fancy the contact like he did, you wouldn't have made it. Well done Baz

[arsebiscuits1]

His defensive rush ups at the weekend were amazing.

I counted 4 times he rushed up to either make the hit and stop the move, or cut off the option.

Really mature stuff from him

[Edna Kenny]

Daly is "not particularly quick" according to Franno!

[simonokeeffe]

Daly is "not particularly quick" according to Franno!

nice to see that bit of begrudgery has now become a common myth, if he was shorter or Polynesian or something he'd be labelled quick

his defence still needs some work but he works really hard in defence

[hugonaut]

“Again, that’s why Barry got picked, because he’s able to score tries,” admitted Cullen. [source: https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/ ... -1.3256551 ]

I thought that was a very honest statement, rather than a pointed one, from Leo. He has soldiered with Ferg [in particular] and Dave Kearney and no doubt wants them to do well, but their lack of tries has been a growing deal for them over a long period and it has knock-on effects and repercussions both on the team and their position in the squad.

Daly has scored 9 tries in his 15 games [8+7 | 744 mins] [source: https://www.leinsterrugby.ie/player?PlayGuid=BD677899 ] ... you have to go back to December 2012 and about 5100 minutes of gametime if you're counting back the last nine tries of Ferg's career, and you're going back to September 2013 [around 4240 minutes of gametime] to count back DK's last nine tries in the blue jersey.

Of course there's a legitimate argument that tries aren't the be-all-and-end-all for a winger, or even the most significant statistic in the box, but you can't just put it to one side and forget about it entirely. If you're a winger and don't score tries, you need to be playing obviously outstanding rugby – you need to be making line-breaks, setting up scores, beating individuals one-on-one, taking competitive kicks in the air etc. Try scoring may not be the only action that defines a winger, but it is a big deal.

I have a massive amount of time for both Ferg – one of my favourite personalities in the squad – and Brave Dave, but at the moment they've no legitimate ground for griping with selection [from my point of view]. It's only going to get tougher for them when James Lowe arrives, so I hope both of them can rise to the challenge and get close to their best form as the season progresses.

[jimbobjoe]

Good point Hugo. I could be completely wrong on this but I think in MOCs last season we were over reliant on just a few players picking up tries - Isa and P Try being best value for money then iirc. I think we now pose a try scoring threat from nearly every position on the field but especially wingers and hopefully Lowe can add to that even more. I've always liked Ferg and DK but it looks like they're being edged towards the periphery now.

[cormac]

Good point Hugo. I could be completely wrong on this but I think in MOCs last season we were over reliant on just a few players picking up tries - Isa and P Try being best value for money then iirc. I think we now pose a try scoring threat from nearly every position on the field but especially wingers and hopefully Lowe can add to that even more. I've always liked Ferg and DK but it looks like they're being edged towards the periphery now.

Isa's retirement coincided with MOC's stint so he never played for him. Darragh Fanning was the top try scorer with 6 in MOC's last season. P Try's standout season was MOC's first year in charge.

[jimbobjoe]

Good point Hugo. I could be completely wrong on this but I think in MOCs last season we were over reliant on just a few players picking up tries - Isa and P Try being best value for money then iirc. I think we now pose a try scoring threat from nearly every position on the field but especially wingers and hopefully Lowe can add to that even more. I've always liked Ferg and DK but it looks like they're being edged towards the periphery now.

Isa's retirement coincided with MOC's stint so he never played for him. Darragh Fanning was the top try scorer with 6 in MOC's last season. P Try's standout season was MOC's first year in charge.

Ah - you're right. I'm referring to Leo's first in charge in that case (15/16)... Could still be totally wrong though!

[Ruckedtobits]

Barry Daly started his Leinster career with a bang but was stopped in his tracks by the Red Card against Llanelli (A) and stalled throughout the remainder of last Season. This year he has regained the confidence which brought him to prominence with UCD and then Leinster. Somebody who "comes back" usually has a very strong core of self belief, allied of course to high skill levels.

His try on Saturday was finishing of the highest level and he obviously enjoys playing with Joey because he rarely overruns his passes, a regular feature of other wingers. Really delighted for him and hope he continues in this vein. I particularly enjoy his overhead takes, pure class.

[Leinsterlunatic]

Really hasn't impressed me when he's not going forward.

Munster in Thomond last year they had far too much success down his wing. As far as deep ends to get thrown into that is a big one but still.

Against the Cheetahs he was far too passive in D, soaked up a lot of yards.

He's a decent sized bloke (6'2" and 96kgs according to LR, personally I'd say closer to 6' and 90kgs) and it's always handy to have a strong, pacy winger but I can't see him being more than a Cathal Marsh-eqsue role in the squad.

Will be more than happy to be proved wrong in time

Probably haven't proved you wrong just yet, but so far he's looking good

[mildlyinterested]

proves he should have been given an academy offer when he was under-20, something a lot of people thought at the time.

[Oldschoolsocks]

proves he should have been given an academy offer when he was under-20, something a lot of people thought at the time.

How so? He developed and proved himself through a different route, no?

Surely the outcome of that development can’t be used as evidence that he should have been given an academy position?

[mildlyinterested]

proves he should have been given an academy offer when he was under-20, something a lot of people thought at the time.

How so? He developed and proved himself through a different route, no?

Surely the outcome of that development can’t be used as evidence that he should have been given an academy position?

how is it a different route?

he would have been playing AIL and 7's while in the academy.

If anything if he had joined the academy at 19, he'd probably have broken through earlier.

[Leinsterlunatic]

proves he should have been given an academy offer when he was under-20, something a lot of people thought at the time.

How so? He developed and proved himself through a different route, no?

Surely the outcome of that development can’t be used as evidence that he should have been given an academy position?

how is it a different route?

he would have been playing AIL and 7's while in the academy.

If anything if he had joined the academy at 19, he'd probably have broken through earlier.

It's a tough one, I think it has actually proven that purely playing AIL & Sevens can be enough to get you into the professional game.

However, you really do need to be at the top of your game to make an impact, looking at others who have failed to make the grade (Burke-Flynn, Mick McGrath, Fanning).

[arsebiscuits1]

Really hasn't impressed me when he's not going forward.

Munster in Thomond last year they had far too much success down his wing. As far as deep ends to get thrown into that is a big one but still.

Against the Cheetahs he was far too passive in D, soaked up a lot of yards.

He's a decent sized bloke (6'2" and 96kgs according to LR, personally I'd say closer to 6' and 90kgs) and it's always handy to have a strong, pacy winger but I can't see him being more than a Cathal Marsh-eqsue role in the squad.

Will be more than happy to be proved wrong in time

Probably haven't proved you wrong just yet, but so far he's looking good

Absolutely. He is completely on the right track. I'm looking forward to eating my words if he keeps finishing like he did on Saturday. Not many people on this Island can finish like that

[Oldschoolsocks]

proves he should have been given an academy offer when he was under-20, something a lot of people thought at the time.

How so? He developed and proved himself through a different route, no?

Surely the outcome of that development can’t be used as evidence that he should have been given an academy position?

how is it a different route?

he would have been playing AIL and 7's while in the academy.

If anything if he had joined the academy at 19, he'd probably have broken through earlier.

route a - going through the academy
different route - not going through the academy

seems like two different routes there, no?